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Elder Scrolls Online Is Now On Steam!

As of yesterday The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is on Steam! My reactions to ESO are mixed. (I should make it clear that I've only seen footage of the game, and watched friends play it in Beta.) On one hand, anything that dips into Tamriel (the place in which 'Scrolls games are set) should be brilliant, and you can guarantee that Bethesda will have put their all into it - that's just how they work. But, it's not a conventional title in The Elder Scrolls series simply because of that one word "Online". It's not just you and Delphine, or you and Martin. It's you and thousands of other people who are forking out the £8.99/month subscription fee.

That's something else to mention; a normal Scroll's game would be one-time-only purchase + any extra if you want the inevitable DLC - which seems very reasonable, no matter what the price, as you know the experience will be like no other. And, if it was just the £40 upfront purchase, I would happily pay that. Happily. But, that, in addition to the £109 a year then no. It just isn't something I would be prepared to pay. I would love to - but I just can't justify it. The one month free after purchase of the game-disc (or download) doesn't help either - it means you have to pay £40 for the first month!!!

Saying all this, I do realize why the £8.99 sub fee is there - an MMO is hard and expensive to make, plus the updates, the patch fixes, the DLC (which aren't really DLC because it's a MMO, but hey - it's kind of the same thing) and of course payment to the lovely people who made the game. That makes a lot of money needed. So I guess I recommend it, simply from the TES games I've played before. But I don't support it. Not really. Not yet.

Fingers crossed the sub fee will go eventually - then I'll play it, as I'm sure will many others.